


A Princess's Woes

by orphan_account



Category: Super Mario & Related Fandoms
Genre: Fever, Hurt/Comfort, Illness, Implied Relationships, Peach needs help, Sickfic, Sneezing, Suffering
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-08
Updated: 2017-09-12
Packaged: 2018-10-29 11:41:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10853268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Unfortunately, Princess Peach seems to be very sick...





	1. Chapter 1

"Dearest princess,you should please settle down and rest.."

Peach continued to ignore the calls from her advisors and such, still clutching a messy stack of papers in her hands. She did all she could to stave off the sensitivity in her reddened nose, ignoring the pounding from her head...

"I-I'm fine..." she continued,hurrying down the hall-which didn’t seem like a good idea due to her fever. “I g-gotta get these meeting notes in…” She stumbled,tripped over her flowing gown and fell to the floor, the impact sending ripples of dull pain throughout her aching body.

The Princess didn’t want to admit it, but she felt like shit. Somehow she had picked up a cold virus and now it was pretty much destroying her from the head up. Today she woke up with a fever and a sore throat, and before afternoon came she was pretty much sneezing through everything. Her favorite dress that she wore almost often felt like a stifling sauna now, and she hated every second of it.

She sniffled and rubbed her sore nose, pulling herself to her feet as the various Toads around her panicked as usual. Squatting down to pick up the scattered papers was NOT a good idea-she instantly got dizzy and fell to her knees again, coughing raspily as the papers fell out of her grip.  
“Princess! Please, you must rest right away! These affairs are nothing compared to your health!” one Toad shouted.

“B-But what a-about the m-meeting..?” she rasped. “Let me at l-least finish out that…”

Her nose started to quiver again, much to her annoyance. She hitched silently, her trembling hands already moving up to cover her nose. It wasn’t belong before she arched forward with a wet “Hii’sheew-!!”, causing her arm to give out from under her as she fell to the floor for the third time today, the impact knocking the wind out of her. “Ugh…”

“I-I habe to go to *snf* t-thad b-beetigg..” she snuffled. “My atteddagce is baddatory..I habe do choice...” She shakily pulled herself to her feet, gathered up her papers and stumbled on to the meeting room, coughing all the way.

\--

My head is killing me, the Princess thought to herself. She groaned and massaged her uncomfortably warm temples, hoping this would at least alleviate some of the tension in her head. Why did I agree to do this…? So she waited for Mario,even drifting off a bit...

“Princess Peach, you have arrived!” called a cheerful but grating voice, which seemed so close to her that she flinched and cringed at the high-pitched noise. It was a rather peppy Toad, who else? “Would you like anything before the meeting starts?”

So they brought this guy as a stand-in for Mario.. She thought. Oh how the princess longed for him to be by her side...but unfortunately his little brother had gotten sick (likely from the same virus that was tormenting her) and Mario had to stay home to tend to him. So they brought in a Toad.

“Some tea..” she rasped, her voice sounding more hoarse than she hoped. “A-And a flu mask and a tissue box...please..”

The stand-in looked concerned, but went on his way-and seconds later he returned with everything she requested.  
“Thank you,kind sir..” Peach mumbled, trying to keep from adding any discomfort to her already sore throat.

First she blew her nose-at this she noticed two things. The tissues actually felt soothingly cool on her reddened, irritated nose-were these the kinds that had lotion made into them? Either way,they felt like heaven. Secondly, she was incredibly congested-just blowing her nose was a major effort if she wanted to at least sound slightly healthy.

Next she sipped some of the tea she was given. Honey lemon and ginger, perfect for a sneezing and sniffling princess. She hummed contentedly as the soothing aroma of the ginger helped to loosen up the hellish blockade in her nose. It also tasted good-well,what little that she could taste. It helped with her throat,oo.  
Unfortunately the ginger worked too well-the steam had cleared her nose but was now tickling it. She hitched twice,managing to put down her cup of tea before snapping forward.

“Hii’tshooo-!! H-Haaa’shoo-!!” Already there was a thin stream of snot dripping down her reddened nose. Peach looked up at the concerned meeting-goers around her-who were all staring,clear concern for the ill ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom present in their expressions.

“Excuse be..” she snuffled, picking up some more tissues and gently dabbed at her nose, as opposed to just flat out blowing. The meeting was about to start, and she couldn’t dare to interrupt it. But she savored the soothing lotion on her irritated nose and slipped on her flu mask,breathing in the sharp scent of menthol.

\--

It was barely minutes into the meeting and Princess Peach was already stifling coughs. Every time she did so, about two or three of the other members turned to look at her, obvious concern on their faces.

“I-I…*snf* I’b fide, hodestly..” she slurred just before snapping forward with a wet “Hiip’tsheeww-!!” Ugh,this was getting ridiculous. She couldn’t even pay attention to the speaker, and she was the one that was sick!

Sighing, she tried to pay attention. Aside from being feverish and snotty, poor Peach was also exhausted. She was grateful that her sore nose was giving her a break from the sniffling and sneezing, but now she was stifling yawns.

Her heavy eyelids fluttered and before long she had nodded off,snoring congestedly. And for about the first time today, she felt peaceful.

At least until she broke into a coughing fit. The meeting room fell silent as everyone stared in horror at Peach. But she kept coughing, unable to stop…  
She wheezed in pain as she finally stopped coughing. “Uughh...I-I dod't feel very well…” she finally sputtered.

“Dearest Princess,you should rest. We can discuss these matters later. Off to bed with you, miss.”

"A-Alright…” Peach sighed in defeat. She stumbled out of her chair,picked up her box of tissues and headed for the doorway,but not before suddenly sneezing into her flu mask. “H-Hiii’tschuuu-!!”

Unfortunately that was a pretty messy sneeze-and she learned that the hard way when she felt slimy snot drip down her lips. “Cad this day get ady worse..?”


	2. Chapter 2

She’d sneezed all the way to the main hall,where she trudged over to where a small cart tray rested. She poured herself a second cup of that amazing honey and ginger tea-even though it only helped temporarily it still helped. For once today, she actually felt...well, not shitty. Now if only she had some tissues…

Peach sniffled as she trudged to her bedroom,occasionally sipping some of her tea. Her vision wobbled at every uneven, jerky step. She even had to stop every few seconds to keep from getting too dizzy and falling over. Her hands were trembling as she tried to keep the cup of tea steady,especially as it was still considerably full. The tea inside sloshed but thankfully never spilled.

She brought the cup up to her lips,intending to take a sip...but then suddenly she snapped forward with a strained “Hii-t’shooo!!” The sudden force of the sneeze launched the cup out of her hands,the contents of the cup splashing all over poor Peach’s face and dress. The cup itself dropped to the floor,shattering into large shards of porcelain onto the tiled marble. One of the porcelain shards barely grazed her exposed foot.

She stared in defeat at the mess below her,rubbing away some of the tea from her face. Today was just not a good day for the illness-stricken princess. At least there was a Toad already scrambling to clean up the broken cup.

“Don’t worry about it, Princess. I’ll handle this. You just go and rest up,” the Toad reassured, sweeping up the broken pieces and properly disposing of them in the nearest trash can. And all Peach could mumble was a hoarse,quivering “Thagk you…” With that, she trudged on to her bedroom, coughing every few paces.

As soon as she reached her bedroom she pushed the door closed behind her, unintentionally slamming it. She peeled off her tea-stained dress and shoved it aside with a “good riddance”, slipped on her (surprisingly cool) nightgown, crawled into bed and buried herself into the mountain of duvet, where she opted to just lay there and suffer for a while before drifting off into an uncomfortable sleep.

At least until about an hour later,when she woke up coughing and wheezing, tears streaming down her flushed face. Ugh, she felt absolutely terrible… She gripped her pillow tightly as she continued to cough, her body writhing and jerking as whatever virus she had continued to ravage her…

Eventually her irritated lungs finally settled down, leaving poor Peach breathless and hyperventilating. Her fever had risen quite a bit, to the point where there were little beads of sweat dotting her forehead. To make matters worse, she had to sneeze. Again.

“H-haa...aaa…” she hitched. Getting an idea, she darted over to the bathroom in her bedroom and quickly snatched off a lengthy piece of toilet paper before finally exploding.

“Hehtshoo-!! H'eechoo!!! H-Hii...'ttshoo!!! Haa-tshoo-!!!” She sneezed violently into the tissue, each explosion sending out blasts of runny, sticky mucus. There was no break. She was helpless against her own cold.  
_

About fifteen sneezes later she was out of breath, wheezing into the soaked wad of tissues. Princess Peach huffed sadly and tossed the snotty wad into the trash. She then just leaned against the bathroom walls, resting her aching temples against the cold tiles.

And for about the first time today, she felt something other than the horrid congestion and stifling fever-namely a sort of heaviness in her abdomen. Maybe she was a little too attached to that tea.

So while she relieved herself, she blew her nose quite loudly into a fresh wad of tissues.

And when she got up, she stared at her face in the bathroom mirror.

Peach’s face was a ghastly pale, but the dark circles under her eyes and her reddened, irritated nose seemed to pop out. Her hair was slicked with sweat, and it was a mess too.  
She picked up her hairbrush and loosely brushed the blonde locks into a messy bun, groaning as the pulling sensation put pressure on her already throbbing head.

“I just want to curl up and die…” she thought as she trudged back to her bed and flopped onto it,not bothering to get under her covers...but when she started shivering she nearly flew under the comfortable duvet blankets.

A Toad assistant walked in, pushing a small cart in front of him. On it rested warm tea and a fresh box of tissues. “Princess? How are you feeling?”

Almost as if in response, she crumpled forward with a wet “H'ksheeeeww!!”

“Goodness, bless you. I brought more of the tea you liked so much, as well as a few extra boxes of tissues.” The Toad pushed the cart closer to her bed where she could reach.

“T-Thagk you…” Princess Peach rasped. “You’re so sweet for doing this…”

“It’s the least I can do for you, Princess. I have heard around the castle that Master Mario’s coming to the castle to help care for you.”

A weak smile spread on Peach’s face, and it wasn’t just because of the tea. “Oh my...I didn’t think h-he’d..HI’TSSHEW!! *snf* I didn’t thigk h-he’d b-be able to,s-sidce Luigi’s sick as well..”

“We’ll have our most experienced infirmary assistance help care for Master Luigi.” the Toad reassured. “Until then, you should get some rest,I’ll come wake you when he arrives.”

“Thagk you..” Peach sighed. She opened the fresh box of tissues, ripped out a sheet and blew her nose loudly into it, producing a series of wet honks and squelches. She noticed that these tissues had menthol made into them,unlike the lotion tissues-but they still felt amazing on her reddened, congested nose. Once she disposed of the snotty tissue she pulled the blankets up to her nose and almost immediately drifted off to sleep.

The Toad assistant chuckled and left the cart in her bedroom,dimming the lights to a comfortable shade before silently closing the door to her bedroom. “Wherever you are, Mario… try to hurry..” he whispered to himself.  
-

She woke up to rustling behind her. Was someone here..?

Peach groaned as she shakily pulled herself into a sitting position. She felt less delirious after her nap, but just moving around made her dizzy…She tried stretching her legs around but was stopped by an uncomfortably hot weight on her right side. The princess rolled to her side...and ended up staring right into a ghastly pale face, that seemed to have no mouth at all.

She would have screamed but her throat was terribly sore, no doubt that would also launch her into a coughing fit. She did flail around, obviously startled. Who was this...stranger, if they were even human?! Her fever-riddled mind was racing, was this an alien!?

She flailed for a bit, at least until she felt a strong, warm hand on her forehead. This was enough to calm the ill princess, to the point where she eventually stopped flailing and settled down. A blur of red entered her vision, pulling the blanket back over her. This blur brought the faint smell of fabric softener and citrus, a scent that was all too familiar..

“Mario…?” Peach rasped, weakly turning towards the red blur. “I-Is that y-y-you..?” Her voice started to resemble that of a smoker’s. She coughed twice and groaned a little.

“I’m here, everything’s alright…” the voice soothed,but trying to connect this voice to Mario’s was hard...She felt unbelievably sick,just trying to piece together different sounds was mentally draining for poor Princess Peach.

There was a loud, coughlike noise from the mysterious figure on the right-who was this? Peach squinted to try and get a closer look at this mysterious being, but instead was met with a muddled blur of green. It could be Luigi,but…

“It’s alright,little bro. Just rest, I’ll go find you some medicine…” the voice sang. Maybe it was Luigi,if he was referring to it as ‘little bro’…

The lump of life next to her just wheezed...at least that what it sounded like... What was going on? Did Mario get here early? Peach tried to speak up but all she could manage was a raspy,guttural sound. Was this uncomfortably hot mound next to her really Luigi?  
“Just rest for a little, Princess. I’m gonna go take Luigi to the infirmary.”

The burning,near-lifeless weight next to her-which she assumed was Luigi- was gently lifted from the side of the bed, prompting a pained wheeze and a coughing fit from the figure. Too tired to question-everything was blurry anyway-Princess Peach closed her eyes and immediately dropped into a deep slumber.

When she woke up again, a worried Mario was looming over her, pressing something to her forehead. The pleasant chill told her it was an ice compress, and she sighed softly as she stared up at him. Her vision was still blurry but not as much as it was before.  
Mario seemed...exhausted. His eyelids quivered every few seconds, and there were bags under his eyes...There was faint stubble around his mouth, and his hair was a mess. He had to have stayed up all night just to take care of her…

“M-Mario...g-get some…..r-rest..” Peach rasped.

“Can’t, someone’s gotta take care of both of you.” he responded.

Both of us..? Her thoughts were extremely fuzzy, so she had trouble trying to think of whoever else was here...at least until a sudden, loud “HAA’SHHH-!!” startled her out her thoughts. Who was that?!! She flailed around at least until Mario managed to soothe her.

“Bless you,bro..” He went over to the other side of the bed to tend to whoever made that noise. There was whimpering and rather...unsettling groans..  
Peach struggled to turn to her side so she was facing Mario. What she found was absolutely touching-the plumber cradling who she assumed was Luigi...only this figure was quivering madly in Mario’s arms.

“It’s alright, little bro. We’re gonna help you get better, okay?” Mario cooed, quickly soothing this figure into a...not exactly “peaceful” slumber…

All she saw in front of her was a blurry mess of pale green,but if Mario said it was Luigi, then what position was she in to question that? So she could only sniffle weakly as Mario gently lowered the ill mass back onto her bed, only this time he-or it-was facing Peach.

She was awestruck at how ill this person was-and in fact it was Luigi. His skin was nearly a ghastly white,save for his face-which was almost completely red with fever. His normally smooth, silky hair was slicked with sweat and messy all over. His nose was almost a beet red, raw from constant sneezing, and what little of his mustache (she personally knew that that was the one thing Luigi took so much pride in) that wasn’t obscured by his flu mask was drenched in snot. Luigi’s eyes had bags under them as well, and they were tightly closed as he was racked with aches and pains...He was too weak to even cry out,so he just whimpered like an injured puppy as his flu-stricken body tightly curled into itself.

Gosh, she hated seeing Luigi so ill, so helpless, so...upset. Especially since he possibly had the same virus that was tormenting her...She weakly felt for his hand under the blankets, and grasped it tightly when she finally reached it, letting his clammy, trembling fingers intertwine with hers...To her surprise, Luigi relaxed a little when she did this, letting out a low, shaky groan.

“L-Luigi...W-We’re g-g-gonna *snf* get t-through this…” she weakly sniffled. “W-We….We’ll both b-be better s-s-soon…”  
In response, Luigi shifted closer to Peach. He weakly forced his eyes open, revealing dulled down, almost grey eyes. Seeing this really hurt Peach, usually Luigi’s eyes were a vibrant, glittering crystal blue...he had to be extremely ill for them to be dulled down like this.

He gripped her hand tightly and mumbled out something, even though it came out as a low, guttural growl. He looked like he smiled, though…. With a weak smile, Peach returned his hand squeeze, comforting the ill plumber.  
Soon his eyelids fluttered closed again, and Luigi was snoring congestedly.

“Wow...that was fast.” Mario sighed, busily replacing their cold compresses. “Peach..?”

“Nnhg…?”

“I’...I’ll get some rest once you fall asleep, alright?”

That seemed like a reasonable agreement. So Peach just nodded weakly, burrowing deeper into her pillow.

And about an hour later, she finally dozed off.

And so did Mario as well.


End file.
